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The [DMCA] has one particularly draconian measure criminalizing the
circumvention of digital restrictions management (DRM). This section, which
appears in law as 17 U.S.C §1201 states that '[n]o person shall circumvent a
technological measure that effectively controls access to a work'. This facet of
the law completely violates users' rights to their own devices, and their
legitimate use rights to copyrighted works. The law further criminalizes the
sharing of tools and information needed to circumvent these restrictions. As
paltry compensation, Congress did carve out a narrow window of opportunity to
exempt certain uses via the DMCA exemption process.

We've also written previously about how broken DMCA anti-circumvention
exemptions process is, noting that "[e]xemptions don't fix the harm brought
about by the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions, but they're the only crumbs
Congress deigned to throw us when they tossed out our rights as users." After
years of fighting back against this broken system, there may be some very
limited progress in improving, but not fixing, the situation.

As part of a study of the 1201 provisions, the Copyright Office is looking for
feedback (PDF) on the possibility of making some exemptions permanent,
particularly ones related to the right to repair and research. One of the worst
aspects of the current exemptions process is that any effort made to exempt
certain uses from these draconian rules is thrown out every three years. If
someone wants to maintain an exemption under the current system, they have to
keep going back and arguing for these exemptions each time they expire. That is
one reason why we have called for scrapping the exemption process and repealing
the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions. Having some uses granted a permanent
exemption would lighten the work load for those fighting to protect every use,
though it ultimately won't end the harm wrought by the DMCA.

There is a danger of course, that granting piecemeal permanent exemptions could
slow progress on the ultimate goal of fully repealing the anti-circumvention
provisions. Treating the symptoms without curing the disease patches over the
problems caused by the DMCA and makes its rules seem more liveable than they
really are. We must never lose sight of the fact that the anti-circumvention
provisions are unethical, and should be fought at every instance.

But as long as we keep our eyes on the prize, pushing for smaller changes that
can benefit many users is a worthy goal. The Electronic Frontier Foundation
(EFF) points out that "Section 1201 is unconstitutional to begin with and
should simply be repealed," but is still putting together comments in support of
these permanent exemptions, and has created a petition so that everyone can
help to push for these reforms. As EFF explains the problem succinctly:

Given the pace at which technology evolves, there’s no way that a set of
exemptions can ever keep up with the plethora of otherwise legal activities that
the law calls into question. Under 1201, users’ rights will always lag behind
technology.

The FSF will be filing a comment calling for the repeal of the DMCA's
anti-circumvention provisions but also supporting these permanent exemptions.
Instead of launching a duplicate rallying effort, we're supporting EFF's
petition, to make a louder unified voice. We encourage you to join in their
effort, and to share the petition with your friends and colleagues.

This is just one step in a larger battle to end the DMCA's anti-circumvention
provisions, but it will take all of us to make sure that even these limited
reforms come to pass. Here's what you can do to help:

Sign EFF's petition telling the U.S. Copyright Office that you support
permanent exemptions. Even if you are outside the U.S. you can still sign the
petition, and every voice counts.

Share this article with friends and colleagues and ask them to sign the
petition as well.

Support our efforts to end the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions by making
a donation.